Cleaning staff are happy: wages rise by over 11 percent!

Cleaning staff are happy: wages rise by over 11 percent!

The building cleaners in Germany can look forward to! From January 2025 there will be more money for around 700,000 employees in this industry. In an exciting fourth round of tariffs in Cologne, employers and unions have achieved a breakthrough. The minimum wage for beginners will be increased by an impressive 11.1 percent in the next two years. Initially, the hourly wage rises from 13.50 euros to 14.25 euros and reached the 15-euro mark in January 2026. A real reason to joy for everyone who works in this important industry!

specialists and trainees also benefit

But that's not all! The specialists can also look forward to a wage increase. The minimum wage for this group is raised by 10.2 percent. From January 2025, the tariff will increase from 16.70 euros to 17.65 euros and in 2026 to 18.40 euros. And the trainees do not go away either: their remuneration will be increased from 900 to 1,000 euros in the first year of apprenticeship, in the second from 1,035 to 1,150 euros and in the third from 1,200 to 1,300 euros. A real upswing for the next generation of building cleaners!

Although the unions originally required an even higher increase from 22.2 percent to 16.50 euros, a compromise was found that takes into account the current economic and political uncertainties. A 13th monthly income could not be enforced, but discussions about a possible union bonus from 2027 were agreed. Christian Klovekorn, negotiator of the Federal Guild Association, described the negotiations as "hard, partly hardened", but ultimately as successful. Ulrike Laux from IG Bau emphasized that an increase in income of over eleven percent was a good result, even if one could "imagine more". The future looks promising for the building cleaners!